Tag Archives: drown

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

Please excuse all inappropriate/if im not politically correct

The story “Drown” by Junot Diaz is about Dominican Republic high school boy that lives in a poor neighborhood in New Jersey. At the beginning of the story the reader is introduced to another character named “Beto”. This Beto seems to have different rolls in the story. He is first introduced when the narrator indicates “he’s a pato (homosexual) now but two years ago we were friends” (page 1241). The term “pato” seems to have here a negative association. The reader can infer that the reason they are not friends anymore is because Beto is now gay. That same sentence continues that Beto had “a voice that crackled and made you think of uncles or grandfather.” This indicates to the reader that Beto was some kind of friend that the narrator looked up too or was an adult roll model to him. The two use to hangout day and night; “we stole, broke windows… pissed on people’s steps and then challenged them to come out and stop us” (page 1242) at this point they just seem to be good friends that did everything together and were just rebellious boys in a poor neighborhood. The narrator goes on telling the reader some more about his own personal life, which through out Beto is embedded in his stories. Much of the time he seems to write about Beto as though he misses what they had together. Right before the end of the story the reader is exposed to a sexual relationship they had. After that he writes; “my mother sensed that something was wrong” (page 1247) everything changes and their friendship starts to break. Though he still hung out with Beto a little, it is clear their friendship has changed. “Mostly I would stay in the basement, terrified that I would end up abnormal, a fucking pato, but he was my best friend and back then that mattered to me more than anything” (page 1248). The narrator is torn between being stigmatized in his community and being with his best friend he looked up too. Even though the sexual act happened only twice its still happened. It happened in a community where being gay is only to be a curse you shout out at the cops or in fact just to anyone you hate. Right before Beto leaves to college, Beto gives him a book and says “you cant be anywhere forever” (page 1249). This sentence he thinks to himself while watching his mother sleep and dream about his father who left her to another women. He thinks about his mother who has been always waiting for his father to come back even though he does not deserve her. “You cant be anywhere forever” he thinks. You cant always stuck behind in a reality that does not exist anymore. His mother must move on and forget his father, and he must confront his feeling to Beto and realize he has the right to be with him even though he will be called a “pato” in his community. He must stick to his own truth even if in his community being gay is frowned upon.

Junot Diaz’s short story “Drown”

Uncategorized, , , ,

In Junot Diaz’s short story “Drown,” we meet Yunior, a high school drug dealer who lives in poverty with his mother in a Housing Authority Apartment. The title of the story shows how life’s circumstances keep pushing him down. He is involved in illegal activities, the people around him are not a good influence, and his best friend has left him behind for college. Junior doesn’t think he is able to go any further, saying “I had another year to go in high school, no promises elsewhere” (1242). He doesn’t have many ambitions for the future, and accepts his current situation.

He sells drugs to people. The author states that on Saturdays Yunior makes a fortune out of his selling (1244). Here, he refers “selling” as his drugs because at the park that he goes most of the kids buys from him. Yet, his father left and he supports his mom, feeling a sense of owning her for what she has done. She pays rent and basic expenses and he only pays for the phone bill. On his way to the mall, he is worried that his mother will find out about his illegal activities, he says “I recognize like half the kids on the bus. I keep my head buried in my cap, praying that nobody tries to score” (1244). He is feeling afraid of any of his customers will go to him to buy him drugs in front of his mother. Even though he does it in a regular basics, he does not want his mother to know that his son is doing as a job. At the mall, he gives her some of his drug money. He recalls “hating the image of her, picking through sales bins, wrinkling everything” (1244). Although he does not like her mother to buy from the sale section, he continues the routine on going to the same mall every Saturday. However, one morning, a recruiter stopped Yunior to offer him a real career. Yunior denied his offer saying that he “ain’t Army material” (1246). This way of rejecting the offer shows that he does not want to get involved in a job where he has to be under someone else orders. It also demonstrates that he has little ambitious for the future and refer to stay in his current way of living.

His friend, Beto, who went to college, revealed he was a homosexual, by which Junior feels almost betrayed. They have a sexual encounter, but Junior is “terrified I would end up abnormal, a fucking pato…” (1248). Beto really wanted to leave, he hated the neighborhood, he says “…the breaking apart buildings, the little strips of grass, the piles of garbage around the cans, and the dump, especially the dump.” Does Yunior think of himself the same way Beto describes the neighborhood, because he cannot get out?

The conditions Yunior is experiencing demonstrate the level of poverty he is in, and the environment he has grown up make him feel helpless. He does not have many goals for a different life.